200 TERMS YOU SHOULD KNOW

FOR THE AP LITERATURE

EXAM

RHETORICAL TERMS REVIEW

The narrator of a poem or the voice assumed by the writer in a

work of prose.

speaker

The direct or dictionary meaning of a word, in contrast to its

figurative or associated meanings.

denotation

The repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or verses.

anaphora

A figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made

between two unlike things that actually have something important in common.

metaphor

The substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered

offensively explicit.

euphemism

The most common sentence in modern usage, begins with the

main point (an independent clause), followed by one or more

subordinate clauses.

loose sentence

A rhetorical strategy that recounts a sequence of events, usually in

chronological order.

narration

The choice and use of words in speech or writing.

diction

The perspective from which a speaker or writer tells a story or

presents information

point of view

The similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words,

phrases, or clauses.

parallelism

The repetition of an initial consonant sound.

alliteration

A sentence that gives a command or makes a request. Usually ends

with a period.

imperative sentence

Any misconception resulting from incorrect or flawed reasoning.

logical fallacy

A course of reasoning aimed at demonstrating truth or falsehood.

argument

The connection between two parts of a piece of writing, contributing

to its coherence.

transition

A kind of language occurring chiefly in casual and playful

speech, deliberately used in place of standard terms for added

raciness, humor, irreverence, or other effect.

slang

A short literary composition on a single subject, usually presenting the personal view of the author.

essay

The main idea in a work of literature.

theme

The ordinary, everyday speech of a particular geographic location.

vernacular

The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal

meaning, also known as “sarcasm”.

verbal irony

A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely

associated.

metonymy

The repetition of conjunctions in close succession for rhetorical

effect.

polysyndeton

A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory

terms appear side by side.

oxymoron

The various uses of language that depart from customary construction, order, or

significance.

figures of speech

A writer's attitude toward the subject and audience, primarily conveyed through diction, point

of view, and syntax.

tone

The specialized language of a professional, occupational, or

other group, often meaningless to outsiders.

jargon

Extending a metaphor so that objects, persons, and actions in a text are equated with meanings

that lie outside the text.

allegory

The point of view through which a subject or its parts are mentally

perceived.

perspective

A statement or type of composition intended to give

information about (or an explanation of) an issue, subject,

method, or idea.

exposition

A rhetorical strategy in which a writer examines similarities

and/or differences between two people, places, ideas, or objects.

comparison

A group of literary works commonly regarded as

authoritative or central to the literary tradition.

canon

A conversation between two or more speakers.

dialogue

The repetition of a word or phrase at the end of several clauses.

epistrophe

A theme, motif, symbol, or stock character that holds a familiar

place in a culture’s consciousness.

archetype

Intended or inclined to teach or instruct, often excessively.

didactic

The circumstances which define the way a text is presented to the

reader.

context

Following the established rules or conventions of writing.

formal

One of the types of literature, such as short stories, poetry,

drama, or novels. Also one of the categories within those types, such as romance or science

fiction.

genre

A design or pattern in a literary work used to achieve a particular

effect.

narrative device

An expression of strong feeling that ends with an exclamation

point.

exclamatory sentence

An instance of using a word, phrase, or clause more than once

in a short passage.

repetition

A humorous play on words, using similar-sounding or identical

words to suggest different meanings.

pun

The emotional quality of the setting.

atmosphere

The quality in literature of being true to life. Details seem realistic and believable, even if the setting

is supernatural.

verisimilitude

In a written work, the attempt to arouse the audience’s feelings and

sympathies.

emotional appeal

The moment of greatest intensity in a plot, usually when the central

conflict is resolved.

climax

In grammar, a word, phrase or clause whose denotation is referred to by a pronoun.

antecedent

A brief, usually indirect reference to a person, place, or event that

can be real or fictional.

allusion

The arrangement of two or more ideas, characters, actions, settings, phrases, or words side-by-side or in similar narrative moments for

the purpose of comparison, contrast, rhetorical effect,

suspense, or character development.

juxtaposition

A method of argument in which a premise is supported with the

premise rather than a conclusion.

circular reasoning

A passage or section of a literary work that departs from the central

theme or basic plot.

digression

The final outcome or unraveling of the main dramatic

complications in a play, novel, or other work of literature.

denouement

A sentence composed of at least two independent clauses.

compound sentence structure

Any sentence that ends in a period.

declarative sentence

A brief account of some interesting or entertaining and

often humorous incident

anecdote

Information about a character conveyed to the reader or

audience through thoughts, comments, action, or description.

indirect characterization

A speech in a play used to reveal the character’s inner thoughts to

the audience.

soliloquy

Latin for “God from a machine”, it refers to any artificial or

improbable device resolving the difficulties of a plot.

deus ex machina

Harsh or discordant sounds within a literary work.

cacophony

A succession of phrases of approximately equal length and

corresponding structure

isocolon

A type of sentence in which the main idea is expressed at the end.

periodic sentence

A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of

an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule.

parody

An expression that, while an odd or incorrect use of the language, has a meaning that is understood

even though it is not clearly derived from the words that form

it.

idiom

Language in which figures of speech (such as metaphors,

similes, and hyperbole) freely occur.

figurative language

The ways in which information is presented in a text.

modes of discourse

A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them.

analogy

A point of view in which the narrator knows all the actions, feelings, and motivations of all

the characters.

third person omniscient narration

A novel about the education or psychological growth of the

protagonist.

Bildungsroman

The direct address of an absent or imaginary person or of a

personified abstraction, especially as a digression in the course of a

speech or composition.

apostrophe

Refers to language appropriate for everyday, casual, or familiar

conversation or writing.

informal

A tragic or fatal character flaw that causes the downfall of a

person of high status.

hamartia

A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis

or effect; an extravagant statement.

hyperbole/overstatement

An elaborate parallel between two seemingly dissimilar objects or

ideas.

conceit

A conclusion reached by reasoning from the general to the

specific.

deduction

A term used to describe writing that borders on lecturing

(considered more patronizing than didactical writing).

pedantic

A psychological process whereby one kind of sensory stimulus

evokes the subjective experience of another.

synesthesia

An episodic novel that features a character who wanders from one

adventure to another.

picaresque novel

An apparently perfect society in which the value of human life is

clearly diminished.

dystopian

A statement that asks a question and ends with a question mark.

interrogative sentence

The dramatic effect achieved by leading an audience to understand an incongruity between a situation and the accompanying speeches, while the characters in the play

remain unaware of the incongruity.

dramatic irony

A sentence that contains an independent clause and at least

one dependent clause.

complex sentence structure

A protagonist who is not admirable or who challenges our

notions of what should be considered admirable.

anti-hero/anti-heroine

A question asked merely for effect with no answer expected.

rhetorical question

A point of view in which the narrator conveys the internal

thoughts and feelings of just the protagonist.

third person limited point of view

A figure of speech in which the order of the terms in the first of

two parallel clauses is reversed in the second

chiasmus

A character who illuminates the qualities of another character by

means of contrast.

foil

A story narrated through letters.

epistolary novel

The time and place in which a narrative takes place.

setting

A cleansing or purification of one’s emotions (usually used in reference to the experience of an

audience during a tragedy).

catharsis

A rhetorical strategy using sensory details to portray a

person, place, or thing.

definition

A point of view in which the narrator tells the story from

his/her perspective and refers to himself/herself as “I”

first person narration

The liberty authors sometimes take with ordinary rules of syntax

and grammar in order to strengthen a passage or writing.

poetic license

A sudden, powerful, and often spiritual or life changing

realization that a character reaches in an otherwise ordinary

or everyday moment.

epiphany

A figure of speech in which two fundamentally unlike things are explicitly compared, usually in a

phrase introduced by "like" or "as."

simile

An author’s personal way of using language to reflect his/her

personality and/or ideology.

voice

The overall character, moral makeup, or guiding beliefs of an individual, group, or institution.

ethos

Latin for “in the middle of things”; refers to the technique of starting a narrative in the middle

of the action.

in media res

The emotions evoked in the reader by the author’s chosen

tone.

mood

A person, place, action, or thing that (by association, resemblance,

or convention) represents something other than itself.

symbol

The use of a word to modify or govern two or more words

although its use may be grammatically or logically correct

with only one.

zeugma (zoog-mah)

In writing and literature, an author’s exaggeration or

distortion of certain traits or characteristics of an individual.

caricature

The emotional implications and associations that a word may

carry.

connotation

A figure of speech in which a writer deliberately makes a

situation seem less important or serious than it is.

understatement

The narrator is revealed over time to be an untrustworthy source of

information.

unreliable narrator

French for a novel in which actual people are thinly disguised as

fictional characters.

roman à clef

Presenting ideas, images, events or comments that hint at future

events in the story.

foreshadowing

A technique in which the author steps outside the story, speaking directly to the reader to reveal an

attitude, purpose or meaning.

aside

Indicated by a series of three periods, this punctuation mark shows some material has been

omitted.

ellipsis

Usually a religious sermon, but can any refer to any serious

speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice.

homily

A conclusion reached by deriving general principles from particular

facts or instances.

induction

A type of sentence that has only one independent clause, no

dependent clauses, and is limited to one subject and one predicate

simple sentence structure

A person, scene, event, or other element in a work of literature

that fails to correspond with the time or era in which the work is

set.

anachronism

The use of insincere or overdone sentimentality.

bathos

Any work of literature that deals with rural life.

pastoral

The narrator uses the pronoun “you” to make immediate

connection with the reader (very rarely used in fiction).

second person narration

A prayer or statement that calls for help from a god or goddess.

invocation

A pleasing arrangement of sounds.

euphony

The formation or use of words that imitate the sounds associated

with the objects or actions to which they refer.

onomatopoeia

A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole or

the whole for a part.

synecdoche

A quotation placed at the beginning of a piece of literature

that provides the reader with ideas about the content or thematic intent of the selection (also a short, humorous poem, often

written in couplets, that makes a satiric point).

epigram

The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases.

antithesis

A text or performance that uses irony, ridicule, or wit to expose or attack human vice, foolishness, or

stupidity.

satire

Characteristic of writing that seeks the effect of informal

spoken language as distinct from formal or literary English.

colloquial language/colloquialism

The depiction of fate or of the universe in general as indifferent

to human suffering and/or existence which creates the

suggestion that life is ultimately meaningless.

cosmic irony

A comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph

or lines in a poem.

extended metaphor

A type of sentence characterized by parallel structure. Two or

more parts of the sentence have the same form, emphasizing similarities or differences.

balanced sentence

Vivid descriptive language that appeals to one or more of the

senses.

imagery

A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with human qualities or

abilities.

personification

The omission of conjunctions between words, phrases, or

clauses.

asyndeton

A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an

affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.

litotes (lie-toe-tez)

From the Greek work for “feeling”; the quality in a work of

literature that evokes high emotion, most commonly sorrow,

pity or compassion

pathos

In this verb form, the subject of the sentence receives the action denoted by the verb. Always

consists of a form of the verb “to be” plus the past participle of the

verb.

passive voice

The study of the rules that govern the way words combine to form

phrases, clauses, and sentences; it also refers to the arrangement of

words in a sentence.

syntax

Denunciatory or abusive language; discourse that casts

blame on somebody or something.

invective

An incongruity between what might be expected and what

actually occurs.

situational irony

A type of sentence that appears to follow the inner working of the

mind by mimicking the rambling, associative syntax of thought.

running style

A recurring idea, structure, contrast, or device that develops or informs the major themes of a

work of literature.

motif

A short narrative that illustrates a moral by means of allegory. The

literal and symbolic meanings correspond clearly and directly to

one another.

parable

A statement that appears to contradict itself.

paradox

A logical fallacy that assumes as true the very thing that one is

trying to prove

begging the question

A sentence with at least two independent clauses and one or

more dependent clauses.

compound-complex sentence structure

The juxtaposition of two dissimilar elements within a

literary work for the purpose of highlighting their differences.

ironic contrast

Multiple meanings, intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase,

sentence or passage.

ambiguity

An imaginary story that has become an accepted part of a

cultural or religious tradition of a group or society.

myth

A statement or idea that fails to follow logically from the one

before.

non sequitur

A figure of speech combining inconsistent or incongruous

metaphors.

mixed metaphor

A work of literature meant to ridicule a subject; a grotesque

imitation.

burlesque

A sentence containing a deliberate omission of words.

elliptical construction

To write evasively; to discuss a topic without saying anything

concrete about it.

circumlocution

A terse statement which expresses a general truth or moral principle.

aphorism

POETRY REVIEW

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that make up

a line of poetry

rhythm or meter

A unit of stressed and unstressed syllables used to determine the

meter of a poetic line.

foot

A metrical foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by an stressed syllable ( U U / )

anapest/anapestic

A metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by two

unstressed syllables ( / / U )

dactyl/dactyllic

A metrical foot consisting of one unstressed syllable followed by an stressed one ( U / ). This is the most common poetic foot in

the English language.

iamb/iambic

A metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by one

unstressed syllable ( / U ).

trochee/trochaic

A metrical foot consisting of two stressed syllables ( / / ). This

type of foot is so rare it is hardly ever used.

spondee/spondaic

A line of poetry containing a single foot.

monometer

A line of poetry containing two feet.

dimeter

A line of poetry containing three feet.

trimeter

A line of poetry containing four feet.

tetrameter

A line of poetry containing five feet.

pentameter

A line of poetry containing six feet.

hexameter

A line of poetry containing seven feet.

heptameter

A line of poetry containing eight feet.

octameter

A group of two or more lines of poetry arranged together by the author for a specific purpose.

stanza

A two-line stanza

couplet

A three-line stanza

tercet

A four-line stanza

quatrain

A five-line stanza

cinquain

A six-line stanza

sestet

A seven-line stanza

septet

An eight-line stanza

octave

Two rhymed lines written in iambic pentameter (e.g. the final

two lines of a sonnet).

heroic couplet

Poetry that has rules about numbers of lines, meter and/or

rhyme schemes.

fixed form

A traditional Japanese fixed-form poem. It consists of three lines with 5 syllables in the first and third lines and 7 in the second.

haiku

A complicated French form of poetry consisting of six six-line

stanzas followed by a tercet, which is called an “envoy”.

sestina

A poem containing fourteen lines of iambic pentameter – three

quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet. The rhyme scheme is

abab cdcd efef gg.

Shakespearean sonnet

A poem containing fourteen lines of iambic pentameter – three

quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet. The rhyme scheme is

abab bcbc cdcd ee.

Spenserian sonnet

A sonnet consisting of one octave which presents a problem,

followed by a sestet which either gives the solution or signals a

shift in tone.

Italian/Petrarchan sonnet

A fixed form of poetry consisting of 19 lines composed of five

tercets and a concluding quatrain. Lines one and three serve as

refrains and are repeated again in the final two lines.

villanelle

A simple narrative poem that tells a story. It is often written in

quatrains with an ABCD rhyme scheme.

ballad

A poem in which the subject is the death of a person or, in some

cases, an idea

elegy

A lengthy, adventurous tale told on a grand scale that celebrates

the exploits of a hero.

epic

A serious lyric poem, often of significant length, that usually

conforms to an elaborate metrical structure.

ode

Personal, reflective poetry that reveals the speaker’s thoughts and

feelings about the subject.

lyric poem

Unrhymed verse that lacks a consistent metrical pattern

free verse

A poem in which a speaker addresses either the reader or an

internal listener at length.

dramatic monologue

A type of poetry that uses elaborate conceits to express the

complexities of love and life.

metaphysical poetry

A parody of traditional epic form poetry.

mock epic

A break or pause within a line of poetry indicated by punctuation and used to emphasize meaning.

caesura

The running of the thought from one line, couplet, or stanza to the

next without a break.

enjambment

Rhyme of the terminal syllables of lines of poetry.

end rhyme

Rhyme that occurs within a line of verse

internal rhyme

Rhyme that matches only one syllable, usually at the end of

respective lines.

masculine rhyme

Rhyme that matches two or more syllables, usually at the end of

respective lines.

feminine rhyme

Words at the end of lines of poetry that sound the similar but

are not exact rhymes.

slant rhyme

Words that appear to rhyme due to similar spelling but do not

rhyme when pronounced.

eye rhyme

Repetition of vowels without repetition of consonants used as an alternative to rhyme in verse.

assonance

Recurrence or repetition of consonants especially at the end of stressed syllables without the

similar correspondence of vowels

consonance